Casal, Julián del, 1863-93, Cuban poet, b. Havana. A friend of Rubén Darío, Casal became a leader in modernismo. He was greatly influenced by the French Parnassians. Afflicted with a painful form of tuberculosis, he wrote verse expressing deep pessimism, often choosing subjects from antiquity and far-off lands, especially Japan. His best-known collections are Hojas al viento [leaves in the wind] (1890) and Bustos y rimas [busts and rhymes] (1893).